Support #2156
open
Gig economy job (wave 13)
50%
Description
Hello,
One fourth of workers (3217 out of 13010 respondents) reported in wave 13 that they are engaged in the gig economy. Almost all of these gig workers perform the work as their main job (using jbmain). Out of 13,010 workers, 2947 (22.7%) are gig workers with no multiple jobs (i.e. they perform gig work as their single job). I wonder whether this can be right or whether people have misinterpreted the question? The question is worded as follows: "Is this job part of the 'gig economy'? That is, do you use websites or digital platforms to get work for this job?" Could it be that some people thought if they are using a digital platform of sorts or the internet for their work (similar to me just now when filling in this form here), that they are a gig worker? The 'help' function specifies: "The ‘gig economy’ involves use of an online tool such as a smartphone app or website to provide a service on a short term, payment by task basis." Here the short-term is mentioned (which was not mentioned in the actual question) - but do we know whether people read the 'help' text? In waves 11 & 12, a comparable small proportion of workers reported gig economy jobs. Wave 13 only added to the list of gig type jobs the 'selling' type of jobs on platforms but not many have selected these so this cannot have driven the high numbers in wave 13. Instead, the high numbers fall to professional and administrative work, i.e. jobs that use the website or intranet.
A more specific question I have is that 1,753 workers (from m_jbsemp) are coded not applicable (-8) on m_gigempjob. Are these refusals or don't knows?
I would be grateful if you can share checks of the gig economy module and also influences on the variable m_jbsemp. Is jbsemp still consistent across the waves? And how is this variable now generated? I am asking this as I used as check jbmain and multijobs and my created 'jbsemp' is not the same as the m_jbsemp variable provided in the dataset.
Many thanks in advance!
Updated by Understanding Society User Support Team 3 months ago
- Status changed from New to In Progress
- % Done changed from 0 to 50
Hello,
Thank you for your questions.
We have passed on your first question about the interpretation of question on gig economy to the questionnaire team.
About the 1753 cases with -8 values: these cases have valid values, and these -8s were the result of a processing error and this issue will be fixed.
Best wishes,
Understanding Society User Support Team
Updated by Understanding Society User Support Team about 1 month ago
- Category set to Data documentation
- Status changed from In Progress to Feedback
- Private changed from Yes to No
Hello Darja,
Apologies for the delay in responding to this part of your query.
The initial question, "Gigempjob – Gig economy job," was changed mid-fielding to "Gigempjob2" following expert consultation, as it became clear that the concept of "gig economy" wasn’t fully understood. Early responses to the first version of the question showed an unexpectedly high number of "yes" responses.
"gigempjob2" incorporates the following adjustments: (1) it references the gig economy more clearly, (2) bolds the phrase “to get work” to emphasise finding rather than merely performing the work, and (3) moves additional clarifying text about types of work to the help section, which aims to clarify for those uncertain without confusing those who understand.
These revised variables will be amended and included in the next Wave 14 release, set for public access at the end of November. Wave 13 will contain both "gigempjob" (the first version) and "gigempjob2" (the second version), while Wave 14 will include only "gigempjob2".
Regarding "jbsemp", the respondent determines whether the job is classified as employee or self-employed; it is not derived after the interview. This variable originates from the current employment module, and you can refer to the questionnaire to review the "question text" and routing of the variable.
I hope this information is helpful.
Best wishes,
Roberto Cavazos
Understanding Society User Support Team